Remembrance of a Name
by TheFalse
Summary: "The impossible happened and a mistake was made. Yet the world still spins. The world lost Naruto Uzumaki that day, but they still have Kurama. Time Travel! Kurama, Kurama as Naruto.
1. A Different First Page

"So this is the end." Naruto sighed as he clutches his injury.

" **Never thought you would be a quitter."** Kurama snorts through their mental link.

"Then again, this might not be so bad…" Naruto ignores his old-time partner as he stared at Boruto tightened his headband in front of him.

" **Never thought after all that, this is how the shinobi era ends."** The fox grunts his reply.

"Hahaha, there is still hope yet and besides you can finally be free." The blond smiled.

 **"Good, it has been a while since I enjoyed freedom,"** Kurama grumbled.

Naruto and Kurama watch in silence as Boruto faces off against the destroyer of Konoha. One smiles in pride, while the watches unhindered.

"Hey, Kurama?"

" **What?"**

"Thank you for everything…"

" **You better be."**

"…"

"…"

"… **Naruto?"**

At that moment the Nanadaime Hokage breath his last.

* * *

"GRAUGH" Kurama roars.

A pain he remembers flashes over his body… this was not the pain of death. His head burns in a very familiar feeling. The Sharingan…

The fox bristles his fur as he roars and thrashes in fury.

AGAIN? HE WAS NO TOOL. CURSED UCHIHA.

Kurama rampage as he tries to escape the commands in his head forcing his actions. It was dark he has no idea where he is, but he doesn't really care about that. He just lashes out at everything he can see. Into suddenly he felt the stinging control gone… replace with the chill of another being.

The Shinigami himself.

This would not do… he refuses to be sealed, he refuses. He lashes out where he feels the summoner.

He would kill the seal master then he would hide from the world of man. With a thrust, he felt resistance as his claw tore something, but he still the vacuum of the seal forcing him to persist. So, he uses a little trick he picks up in the time he has been with Naruto.

From the tip of his nail, a small amount of nature chakra molds into a sharp energy piercing forward. The seal only sucks away his chakra. Success, he celebrates as the suction from the seal weakens. The host is now dying, and a corpse cannot contain his might.

"NARUTO!" Two voices mixes and echoes in immense despair and rage.

Naruto?

Kurama focuses his eyes, wiping away the blood rage. He enhances his eyesight with chakra. He see's the 4th Hokage and Kushina dying on his claws again.

And his nature chakra piercing a baby.

Wait what is going on?

He can feel it more of his strength being sap away this time from a different source. Minato glaring at him as now in spite and self-loathing he can feel Minato trying to seal more than the amounts he already stole. He resists as more of his chakra is slowly being torn from him.

This would not do.

No, not at all.

He the great Kyuubei cannot understand what's going on… wasn't it moments ago when Naruto died? But he refuses to let this stop him as Minato struggles as death meets him when he tried to seal more of Kurama's chakra.

The Ninetails instead sends more chakra towards the belly of the baby.

It is a half-made seal, incomplete by his hand, but for a century he curses the same seal that prisons him. He knows more about the seal then he should have so what's next is simple. Portions of his chakra not being taken by Minato yet. Enters that seal pulsing through it as he alters… finishes it.

More portions enter the newborn trying to repair the damage done.

This reminds the bijuu of the time when that Uchiha friend of his pierces Naruto's lungs. He remembers that Naruto did die for a few seconds.

Like now.

Time was against him.

This is the body of a baby being turn to stone by the side effects of nature chakra that invades the system earlier.

Clearly not yet grown to the body that houses his and the power of nature chakra.

But.

But who is he?

HE IS KURAMA THE NINE TAILED BIJUU.

He ignored the Hokage's last attempts to take more of him while crying tears.

He forces the rest of his chakra… he forces himself in the wounded infant.

Naruto would not die by his hands.

Not like this.


	2. Prologue

Hiruzin Sarutobi wastes no time.

In seconds he approaches the remains of the Namikaze family. It's not a pretty sight.

A face mangles in despair and self-loathing, Minato's face is one he never thought he would ever see on his successor. The tear-stain glass eyes of Kushina reaches towards the baby in front of the two. Never to touch, but ever does her hand reaches out.

Then there is the infant.

Hesitantly the Third Hokage reaches out to touch the blond hair new-born. From the gaping wound, he already knows.

The child is already dead.

"Oh no Yondaime-sama" Hiruzin did not know who said that as more and more voices join in. The others reinforcements arrive just to witness the body of their leader.

"Sandaime-sama is that?" A question came towards him as one of the ninjas finally notice what he is holding.

"No, the sealing failed," Hiruzin spoke softly. "The Kyuubi would reform in time. This is an S-rank secret Konoha lost their Jinchuuriki."

* * *

Kurama frantically infuses his chakra through the infant.

He has no idea what's happening outside the body but for now, he is working to bring back the infant to life.

He has known Naruto even back when he is just a small speck in Kushina's body already living and being altered by the nine tails presence.

He knows the body better then Naruto himself.

"Don't you dare fail me." Kurama infuses more chakra reinvigorating the body, forcing dying cells to heal and recreating missing delicacies via extreme application of chakra.

A Bijuu's chakra is so thick, so concentrated that its ability to take physical form as a living being even if it's just a giant mass of chakra.

Same as with how Naruto's **Henge Jutsu** literally breaks the laws of physics by altering mass and shape instead of a simple illusion.

Kurama can use this temporary recreate Naruto's body.

And what is a soul but a lump of spiritual energy? Is chakra not the mixture of spiritual and physical energy.

Even if more then three-quarters of his chakra gone is he not Kurama The Nine-tails the one with the most chakra out of his siblings?

There may be no physical energy within Naruto now. But what Kurama have is chakra in abundance.

"Breath." Kurama roars as he can feel his chakra pumps throughout his body.

Wait, his body?

Kurama can feel it a desperate cry for air needed as immense pressure forces itself around him. It is dark, and he can't hear or see anything, but he knows that if nothing happens the body would die.

An explosion of chakra swirl ripping through the fragile skin as Kurama reapply the **Henge jutsu** covering his body with malevolent bijuu energy in desperation to live. He forces himself to pass the dark prison as his form changing to that of a more comfortable form. He breaks free to find himself face to face with a stone.

A tombstone.

So Kushina and Minato are dead… same as Naruto.

Quickly he flung his chakra tail covering the hole he made and then he runs.

He needs to get as far away from this place he cans.

For some unfathomable reason, he is in the past.

A past where Obito and Zetsu are still at large.

With no Naruto to face them.

One wrong move then they would capture him again, forcing him becomes another sacrifice to bring forth Kaguya.

Kurama lets his chakra fade away.

His entire body burns like fire as the skin not used to the sheer power of his chakra burns and ruptures.

His body is bleeding all over.

The body that should have been Naruto's, he is no longer in some mind space he can feel it he can feel through this body all these senses is his own.

He opened his mouth to roar.

A baby voice screams through the night.

* * *

"A child here." A man in a cloak mutters as he finds the source of the crying. "Hmm red hair that's a rare color."

"Oh such marks on your face, did you get caught in the shrapnel of a building falling down or something? You must be lucky to be alive." The man comments as he sees the bleeding form of the baby.

"WAHHHHHHH!" The baby voice continued to cry.

"Then again this might be unlucky seeing how you are abandoned here." The man comments. "But damn I think those scars would never heal. No wonder they did not even bother wrapping you with cloth a quick death heh."

He proceeds to leave as his curiosity has been fulfilled.

But the cry stops him.

At the end that is still a new-born baby he just can't for what remains of his conscious to just leave the baby here.

He rips part of his cloak making a makeshift blanket and carefully carrying the crying baby.

"Well my good deed for the day, let's see where the orphanage is." The man mutters.

* * *

 **Omake: Naming**

"Would you like to name the child." The orphanage matron asks him.

"Nah, I just found him. I have no relation to him." The man uncaringly replies.

"Still, you might as well, it can anything that you want within limits? We at the orphanage would probably do the same so it doesn't really matter who names him. Just in case any name you might want to give this child at least something for him to know of the man that saved his life" The matron urges him.

"Hmm maybe, Monati, Faguku, Haishi?" The man listed.

The matron blushes.

"Maybe naming him after characters from Icha Icha Paradise is a bit inappropriate." She shyly interrupted.

"Oh, so you are a fan as well? Small world, especially when it's a new book that came out a month ago" The man's face also reddens.

"Then how about Naruto?" He suggests.

"From the ramen topping? Well better than nothing." She nods.

"Actually, it's from the first work of the author of Icha Icha Paradise, it was not a…. let's say it was not a heavy romance novel. So it wasn't really popular compared to Icha which came out a month later and the 1st one was soon ignored." The man shrugs.

"What's the name of the book?" The matron asks.

"The Tale of The Utterly Gutsy Ninja."


	3. The Orphan called Naruto

"Naruto stop struggling." Aki one of the orphanage staff sighed as she rewrapped bandages around the red hair orphan. "Really you should know better now about fighting."

"Grrrgh," Naruto growled as he shifted his position.

"Don't use that tone on me young man, do you want me to explain to your Iruka-niichan about you getting into trouble again?" Aki gave a warning glare.

Unknown to Naruto though, for a moment her eyes lingered on the multiple of old scars on his body – so many were there for a child.

"Iruka is a genin now, he would be too busy to deal with the like of us younger kids." Naruto twisted his head impatiently.

"I am hurt, that you would think I would abandon my fellow scar-face." Iruka interrupted as he entered the door.

"Naruto you still alive in there?" "Please don't die on me!" "You alright?"

Naruto lowered his eyes to see three other tiny frames attempting to hide behind Iruka.

"Like a few weak punches would ever hurt me." Naruto dismissed their concern and winced as the bandages on his head tightened.

"It's still not right for you to fight." Aki scowled as she finished the final touches. "Iruka your team took another D-rank looking after the orphanage again? Your sensei must really like kids."

She made a shooing motion at Naruto as she turned to face Iruka with a raised eyebrow.

"Well this orphanage was more home for a while, so there's nothing wrong with me visiting even if it's in the form of D-rank missions." Iruka scratched the back of his head as his face reddened slightly.

"Well, let's get the formalities over, can you go grab the rest of your team here and Naruto you are free to go, just don't get into any more trouble YOU HEAR ME?" Aki almost screamed the last part as Naruto made a beeline out of the room.

* * *

"It's not fair that only you got in trouble." One of the three children commented as they followed Naruto out of the room.

"Of course, it's fair Negi, I am the one who punched them first," Naruto replied.

"But you only punched them because they stole Moyashi's drawing book." Neji persisted.

"Thank you again." Moyashi smiled.

"Really through can you not get violent that fast." The last of the three sighed. "You want to be a shinobi so you can't just go all violent like that - what if they don't let you become one."

"Pft, Chashu why wouldn't I be a ninja for punching Soba in the face?"

"I don't know maybe the adults think you are violent and won't let you become one." Chashu shrugged.

"Man, Soba should stop being so mean." Negi childishly exclaimed. "He always calls you ugly, Scarface and bandage boy why doesn't he just leave us alone."

"Yeah listen the other day…"

Naruto turned back to his thoughts.

It had been 6 years since Kurama killed Naruto.

How bitter the irony was that the orphanage gave Kurama the same name as his? Then again most of his fellow orphans were named after food.

He still can't tell why he had Kushina-coloured red hair, other than that he would have looked like Naruto… except for all the scars on this body. Let it be known that Kurama could easily heal those scars, but then his whisker mask would be more pronounced.

He couldn't afford the attention.

Regardless of how uncomfortable it was, he had to live as a human. Hiding from the damn Uchiha's and that Akatsuki group hunting his brethren. Even if he was in his full might there was no guarantee that he could escape from those dreaded eyes.

Kurama sighed if only Naruto was here.

Then he could leave everything to that idiot to live the same life while he could just sleep. The timeline was a fragile thing and even he knew the damage done from Naruto's death was catastrophic. Who know

* * *

s if they could stop Kaguya this time.

So sadly, he must at least try to fill in the role of Naruto – even knowing that he could never be as kind-hearted as that little fool. He still had to try.

"Come on, let's wait and pester Iruka on ninja techniques." Moyashi nudged Kurama breaking him out of his thoughts.

'Remember you are now Naruto, you must force yourself to be kind to other humans.' Kurama reminded himself.

Kurama didn't notice the small smile that formed on his face.

* * *

"Here you go, Lord Danzo."

Danzo silently read the information from his shinobi after waving him away. Silently, he contemplated what it said.

He had many eyes on the orphanages of Konoha and its surroundings and was careful about getting more fresh blood into the organisation. So usually he would only acquire one or two orphans at a time to hide suspicion.

He needed to choose carefully.

Or else the shinobi over-watching the orphanages under Hiruzin would catch on.

* * *

 **Author Notes:**

Aki has the meaning of clear, crystal. Moyashi means bean sprouts, Negi mean spring onion and Chashu is a kind of pork slices. Soba is cold noodles eaten with cold sauce.


	4. Bonds

"NARUTO," Iruka yelled.

Naruto looked towards him in slight confusing completely ignoring Mizuki in a fetal position. It has been a few days since Iruka last visited and seeing how many times Naruto seemed to get injured had decided to do some small pointers in the fine art of fighting.

"That was a cruel and unusual move Naruto… just don't do that especially to your fellow comrades." Iruka paused for a bit to consider how he should correct Naruto.

To be fair Mizuki had severely underestimated the kid, but on the other hand, no one expects a kid to pull such a dirty move as in a normal situation Mizuki as a genin should be able to react fast enough to block a move from an untrained kid such as Naruto.

In a way was it his fault he asked his best friend and fellow teammate to hold back?

"So, it's it fine if I do it to my enemies?" Naruto gave him a questioning glare devoid or guilt or understanding of the wrongs he did.

Iruka resisted the urge to facepalm.

How would he fix this attitude for his younger brother?

* * *

"You really want to be a ninja heh," Negi remarked as he eyed a dark bruise.

Kurama snorted as he continued to eat his piece of bread.

"What about Negi? You should be trying to be one as well?" Chashu took a sip from her glass of water.

Negi instead looked down as he played with a stick he just picked up on the ground. When he looked up he looked around trying to avoid Chashu's glance. Moyashi who finished his meal gave him a gentle smile but quickly refocused back on his sketch.

"Well." The only female taped her glass expecting an answer.

"Stop teasing him Chashu, we all know he doesn't want to be a shinobi." Kurama directed a raised brow.

Negi eyes widen. At the orphanage children are always aiming to be shinobi so it was slightly frowned upon by other children for those who possess no will or interest in becoming one. There was also be a subtle push for those who are not talented by the staff to not attempt to be one due to the fact they must leave the orphanage when they become official students in the Academy. It's just not safe for children training to be a ninja to be around normal children.

"You should let him speak up for himself." Chashu pouted. "Also, what are you drawing?"

Eyes turned to Moyashi who continued to sketch.

Moyashi looked up gave a smile and his eyes redirected itself back to his sketchbook.

"…" The group silently waited for his answers.

The sound of his sketching was all that continued.

"You not telling us." Chashu took a deep breath.

"No?" Moyashi didn't even look up that time.

Kurama quickly grabbed her arms as she attempted to pounce on the young artist.

"Calm down Moyashi's like that don't wind yourself up." Kurama cautioned.

"Naruto you spoil the two too much," Chashu growled annoyed as her fingers reached towards his book.

"Some us just want to eat in peace." The red hair boy sighed.

That just motivated the girl to struggle harder into her flailing accidentally knocked out the book form Moyashi's hands.

It was a sketch of all four of them smiling with each other.

Moyashi began to tear up.

"Wait why are you crying?" Negi panicked.

"What, I am so sorry Moyashi don't cry." Chashu.

Kurama instead gave a questioning look before sighing.

To him, humans are too sentimental.

"So, what did you plan to do with that sketch," Kurama asked.

"_sob_ It was s-s-supposed to be my g-g-goodbye gift." Moyashi tried to calm down.

The other two froze.

"Congratulations on getting adopted." Negi congratulated.

"Che and I thought Negi was the only one who has a realistic chance of getting adopted." Chashu hid her smile.

"Would you still try to be a ninja?" Kurama asked.

"I am n-n-not sure what my n-new family would allow." The boy stammered.

"Oh well, it doesn't matter as long as you would be happy then all its good." Kurama went back to his lunch.

"Thank you, Naruto."

* * *

 _-_ **Years Later** _-_

Kurama shivered as he stared in the white landscape as he walked towards the academy.

' _Finally, I can start learning the ninja arts._ ' Kurama thought in excitement.

The thing is as a giant mass of chakra he has no idea how a flesh body uses chakra. While he's still able to use chakra outside of his body he has no idea how to mould chakra internally.

"…monster." Kurama stopped.

He hated the word monster.

He might have ignored the speech as he walked, but that word always catches his attention.

Looking around he saw Soba and his gang of friends Udon and Somen picking on a short hair girl from what he can see from her back.

"Hey, you think is so funny to pick up someone half your size?" Kurama called out.

"Oh, if it's not little scar-face, what not here with your friends and Iruka." Soba did a quick glance around. "Perfect, its time to get some payback."

"It takes more than a bully like you to hurt me." Kurama snorted.

He quickly ducked at Soba moved in for a punch to his face. Amused Kurama retaliated by kicking him at the knee as he slid himself to pass the bullies so that he is standing in front of the girl.

"Hey you are you alrig-" Kurama paused as he saw the confused pair of byakugan staring back.

The same eyes as of the one who loved Naruto.

A tingling feeling reached the back of his head as his vision turned red.

* * *

 **Interlude**

Moyashi felt a brief slide of wind before something hit the back of his neck.

Before falling unconscious he dropped the precious ink brush that his friends made him congratulate him.

"Welcome to ROOT." The 'adopted father' muttered as he carefully takes the now unconscious boy to Lord Danzo.

 **Author's note**

Thus the end of Moyashi. Soba, Udon and Somen are all translated as names for noodle.  
Thanks to DreamOfStories for being my Beta Reader


End file.
